A method of communicating between a first and a second processor includes the first processor sending a datum over a common control bus, and the second processor receiving the datum from the common control bus.
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16. A system for communicating between processors comprising:
a first processor and a second processor; a first bus for communicating between the first and second processors and peripheral devices; and a control bus for controlling communications on the first bus, the control bus being further configured for communicating data between the first processor and the second processor.
28. A computer processor comprising:
a first bus interface for communicating with peripherals; a control bus interface for controlling communications over the first bus interface; a controller for controlling communications over the first bus interface using the second bus interface, the controller being further configured to communicate with a second processor over the control bus interface.
1. A method of communicating between a first processor and a second processor comprising:
sending a datum from the first processor over a common control bus; receiving the datum at the second processor from the common control bus; and sending a control signal from the first processor over the common control bus to alert the second processor that the first processor is about to send data prior to the sending of the datum.
38. An article comprising a computer-readable medium which stores computer-executable instructions for communicating data from a first processor to second processor, the instructions causing:
the first processor to send a datum over a common control bus to the second processor; and the second processor to receive the datum from the common control bus, wherein the instructions are configured to communicate the datum over the common control bus for controlling communications between at least one of the processors and at least one peripheral device.
2. The method of
sending a query from the first processor to the second processor over the control bus to inquire whether the second processor is ready to receive data; sending a response from the second processor to the first processor indicating whether or not the second processor is ready to receive data.
3. The method of
4. The method of
successively sending each of the multiple data over the common control bus.
7. The method of
8. The method of
9. The method of
sending a request for data from the second processor to the first processor on the common control bus.
10. The method of
11. The method of
successively requesting each of the multiple data.
12. The method of
14. The method of
15. The method of
17. The system of
a send FIFO for buffering data that is to be sent to the second processor on the common control bus; and a get FIFO for buffering data received on the common control bus.
18. The system of
a controller for controlling communications between the peripheral devices and the processors, the bus controller being configured to control communications between the first and the second processors.
19. The system of
20. The system of
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The invention relates to communication between processors.
Multi-processor computer systems have more than one processor. Each processor executes a separate stream ("thread") of instructions. It is sometimes necessary for two processors of a computer system to communicate data between themselves.
In one general aspect of the invention, method of communicating between a first and a second processor includes the first processor sending a datum over a common control bus, and the second processor receiving the datum from the common control bus.
Advantages and other features of the invention will become apparent from the following description and from the claims.
Referring to
The processors 1,2 each have an Fbus FIFO 3, 4, which is connected to a 64-bit FIFO bus 25, for communicating to peripheral devices, such as media access controller (MAC) 16. MAC 16 may be a Gigabit Ethernet device that complies with the IEEE 802.3z standard. MAC 16 has two data ports 17, 18. Multiple peripheral devices may be concurrently connected to the FIFO bus 25. Through the FIFO bus 25, each of the processors 1, 2 can communicate with any peripherals 16 connected to the FIFO bus.
At any time, one processor ("the master") controls the FIFO bus 25 using signals sent over the Ready Control Bus 14, while the other processor ("the slave") responds to instructions from the master. In
The master controls communications on the first-in-first-out-buffer (FIFO) bus using signals sent on a 5-bit Ready Control Bus 14. The signals allow the master to directly address a device or a slave processor on the bus and to send a query to determine whether the device is ready to transmit (TRRdy) or receive (RRdy) data on the bus. The computer system may include a decoder 15 for decoding signals from the Ready Control Bus into a single TRRdy signal 19 and a single Rrdy signal 20 for a device 16 on the bus.
Additionally, the computer system includes an 8-bit Ready Bus 13, which is used by the master processor 1 to control data flow on the devices on the FIFO bus 25. For example, master processor 1 may use the Ready Bus 13 to direct MAC 16 to send data from port 1 instead of sending data from port 2 onto the bus. Each processor 1, 2 has a send FIFO 9, 10 for buffering data elements that are to be sent on the Ready Bus 13, and a get FIFO 11, 12 for buffering data elements that are received from the Ready Bus 13. Each FIFO 9-12 is capable of storing a number of data elements, and each data element may be a byte, a word, a long word, or a quad word. In the example of
Each processor 1, 2 has a Ready Bus controller 5, 6 for controlling the Ready Control Bus 14, the Ready Bus 13 and the FIFO bus 25. The Ready Bus controller 5, 6 may be a microcode program, logic, or a processing unit within the processor. In the embodiment of
The system 26 provides a way of communicating between processors 1, and 2 over the Ready Bus 13, when the Ready Bus is not being used to communicate data to peripheral devices. Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Upon receiving 107 the GET signal, the slave processor 2 determines 108 the number of data elements in its send FIFO 10. The number of data elements in the send FIFO of
Processor 1 gets 112 a signal representing data from the Ready Bus 13 and decrements the transfer count, to reflect the receipt of a datum. Processor 1 checks 113 whether the received datum is zero, which signifies an empty send FIFO.
If the received datum is zero, processor 1 sets 104 the transfer count to zero to terminate the transfer of data and proceeds to 104. In instances where each data element is transmitted in multiple transfers because the bus is narrower than the data element (as shown in FIG. 1), it is possible that only part of the required transfers associated with a data element may be completed. For example, in the system of
Otherwise if the received datum is not zero, the processor stores 115 the received datum in the get FIFO 11 of processor 1 and proceeds to 104. This process is repeated until the number of data elements in the receive FIFO 11 is equal to the argument of the GET command.
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Upon receiving 204 the query from processor 1, processor 2 checks 205 whether its get FIFO 12 is full. If the get FIFO 12 is full, processor 2 sends a FULL signal over the Ready Bus 13 to indicate to processor 1 that it is not ready to receive any additional data. Otherwise, processor 2 sends a NOTFULL signal over the Ready Bus to processor 1 to indicate that the get FIFO 12 is not full.
Upon receiving a signal from processor 2, processor 1 checks the signal to determine whether the get FIFO 12 of processor 2 is full. If the get FIFO 12 is full, the process is done 209 and the process terminates. Otherwise if the get FIFO 12 is not full, processor 1 drives 210 the Ready Control Bus 14 with a SEND signal to alert processor 2 that processor 1 is about to send data to processor 2. Processor 1 drives 212 the Ready Bus 13 with a datum that processor 2 stores in its get FIFO 12. Processor 1 removes 212 the sent datum from the send FIFO 9 and decrements 213 the put count, to reflect the sending of the datum. Processor 1 proceeds to 201 and repeats the process until the number of data elements sent is equal to the argument of the put instruction.
Referring to
Other embodiments are, within the scope of the following claims. For example, alternative implementations may control data flow using the Ready Control Bus 14 signals, instead of using a separate Ready Bus 13. In these embodiments, the data communicated between the FIFOs would be sent over the Ready Control Bus, instead of the Ready Bus.
The communication method could also be used between process that share the same SRAM or SDRAM memory, instead of the separate memories shown in
Commonly known methods may be used to transfer control from processor 1 to processor 2 so that either processor 1 or 2 can become the master as needed.
Adiletta, Matthew J., Wolrich, Gilbert, Bernstein, Debra
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